Q: I love hydrangeas, especially the ones that get the big, blue flower balls in summer. I've heard there are now types that bloom almost all summer. Is that true? Can you tell me the names to look for?

A: Yes, there's such a thing as reblooming hydrangeas, and they're going to come very handy this year because of all of the winter damage to hydrangeas.

Most of the mophead-type hydrangeas I've seen died back to the ground from this winter's cold. The plants will survive, but the problem is that the flower buds on the killed wood also died.

Most mophead hydrangeas flower on "old wood," meaning the flower buds form on branches that grew the season before. The buds overwinter and then open the following late spring.

With rebloomers, those varieties bloom both on old wood and "new wood," branches that grow this season and produce flower buds that open later in the same season.

In most years, that's a plus because you get two sets of flowering time. It's also a plus when people prune at the wrong time and cut off the first set of flower buds in late fall, over the winter or in early spring.

This year, the second set might be the only hydrangea flowers people get, even on rebloomers.

What really set off a breeding frenzy in reblooming hydrangeas was the arrival of one called Endless Summer. That one's a mophead type (i.e. gets those big flower balls) and blooms both on the branches that grew last year and ones that grow this year.

The success of Endless Summer quickly led to several new series of rebloomers – some with seven or eight different color variations.

My favorite reblooming series is Forever & Ever, especially 'Blue Heaven' and 'Pistachio.' 'Fantasia' is also nice and different with its color blend of cream, pink, rose and green.

Forever and Ever also has five other mophead variations and one reblooming lacecap type, 'Summer Lace,' which has petals that pop out from around the perimeter of the flower cluster as opposed to forming a dense ball.

One of the most durable series of rebloomers is the 'Everlasting' series, which comes in 8 colors. All or most of them change bloom color with the season.

'Let's Dance Starlight' is another nice reblooming lacecap, and 'Double Delights Perfection' is a new reblooming mophead with pointed petals.

Endless Summer itself has grown to become a series, now featuring a pale-pink mophead called 'Blushing Bride' and a lacecap called 'Twist-n-Shout.'

Most of the above list are varieties that will bloom pink or blue depending on soil pH. In alkaline soil, they bloom pink. In acidy soil, they bloom blue. In between, you get either a mix of those or a kind of purplish hue.

By the way, you might even still run into a few of the "original" but little known rebloomers that pre-date Endless Summer furor. 'Penny Mac' and 'Dooley' are two oldies that are still goodies.